Arena Football League (1991-2016)
Tombstone
Born: February 7, 1991 – Arena Football League expansion franchise
Folded: October 12, 20161Ruiz, Stephen. “Orlando Predators suspend operations; team’s future unclear”. The Sentinel (Orlando, FL). October 13, 2016
First Game: June 1, 1991 (W 51-38 vs. Tampa Bay Storm)
Last Game: August 6, 2016 (L 69-68 vs. Jacksonville Sharks)
Arena Bowl Champions: 1998 & 2000
Arenas
1991-2010: Orlando Arena (16,613)21999 Arena Football League Official Record & Fact Book
2011-2013: Amway Center
2014: CFE Arena (10,000)32014 Orlando Predators Media Guide
2015-2016: Amway Center
Marketing
Team Colors: Red, Black & White41999 Arena Football League Official Record & Fact Book
Ownership
Owners:
- 1991-1992: Tracey Allen, Mike McBath and Davey Johnson, et al.
- 1992-1996: Donald Dizney, James English, Tracey Allen, Mike McBath & Mick O’Brien, et al.
- 1997-2003: Orlando Predators Entertainment (NASDAQ)
- 1997-1999: William Meris, Alan Gagleard, et al.
- 1999-2003: Brett Bouchy, Eric Margenau, et al.
- 2003-2005: Brett Bouchy, Ron Howse, et al.
- 2006-2008: Ron Howse, et al.
- 2010-2014: Brett Bouchy
- 2014-2016: David Siegel
Attendance
Orlando Predators attendance routinely ranked near the top of the league’s box office charts, the exception being the disastrous 2014 season when the team moved to CFE Arena.
In 2006 the team claimed an all-time record of 11,244 season ticket holders.52007 Orlando Predators Media Guide
Background
The original Orlando Predators were one of the most popular and entertaining teams during the peak years of the Arena Football League. The Preds earned seven Arena Bowl appearances in twenty-five seasons (winning twice) and routinely played to packed houses at Orlando Arena during the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Origins
Former Major League Baseball player and manager Davey Johnson fronted the original Orlando ownership group that bought into the Arena Football League for the sport’s fifth season of play in the spring of 1991.
The early Predators also had several connections with Orlando’s short-lived United States Football League team, the Renegades, that had played at the Citrus Bowl in 1985. Ex-Renegades quarterback Reggie Collier was the Predators starting quarterback during the team’s debut season in 1991. Former Renegades owner Donald Dizney had a small interest in the team when it formed in 1991 and bought controlling interest in the Predators from Davey Johnson at the tail end of the 1992 season.
War on I-4
The same year the the Predators joined the AFL in 1991, the league’s Pittsburgh Gladiators franchise moved to Tampa and became the Tampa Bay Storm. The Predators-Storm rivalry became the fiercest and most enduring in Arena Football history, comprising 61 meetings across twenty-five seasons between 1991 and 2016.
Both teams were routinely among the best teams in the AFL. While the Predators got the best of the I-4 rivalry (34 wins versus 27 defeats), the Storm ultimately won more when it mattered the most. The Storm captured five Arena Bowl championship game victories, compared to two for the Predators.
The rivals met in the Arena Bowl twice with a split results. On September 1st, 1995 the teams met in Arena Bowl IX at the ThunderDome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg. The announced crowd of 25,087 was the largest crowd ever to watch an Arena Bowl and the second largest in the sport’s history, trailing only a regular season Predators-Storm tilt that drew 28,745 to the same building in 1993. The Storm came out ahead on this evening 48-35.
At Arena Bowl XII in 1998, the Predators got revenge. After a 9-5 regular season, the Predators entered the title game with the #4 playoff seed and underdog status against the top-seeded Storm (12-2 regular season) on the road at Tampa’s Ice Palace. By this time, Orlando had lost three Arena Bowls in their first six seasons. The team seemed to be becoming the Buffalo Bills of indoor football. Intriguingly, the first-year head coach of the Predators in 1998 was Jay Gruden, the man who had quarterback the Storm to victory over the Preds in Arena Bowl IX. Gruden’s club shocked the league by walloping the top-ranked Storm 62-31. The 31-point margin of victory was the most lopsided in Arena Bowl history at the time.
Stars
The Predators would go on to win their second (and final) Arena Bowl title, also under Jay Gruden, at the end of the 2000 season. Playing at home before 15,989 fans at the O-Rena, the Predators bested the Nashville Kats 41-38 in Arena Bowl XIV. Overall, the Predators qualified for the AFL playoffs a record-setting 19 consecutive seasons between 1992 and 2011.
The team’s success was fueled by a collection of the best players and coaches in the history of indoor football. Though
- Ben Bennett
- Durwood Roquemore
- Herkie WAlls
- Paul McGowan
- Barry Wagner
- Perry Moss
- Barry Wagner
Final Years
The Arena Football League became a hot property at the 1990’s ticked over into the 2000’s. NFL owners began to purchase expansion franchises and drive up team values. The AFL landed what was expected to be a landmark national television partnership with NBC in 2003.
But the NBC partnership fizzled and expired in 2006 and the franchise valuation bubble burst around the same time. As the Great Recession hit in 2008, AFL investors suffered a crisis of confidence and cancelled the 2009 season, eventually dissolving the league in bankruptcy in August of 2009.
A group of experience but less wealthy Arena Football operators re-organized the league out of bankruptcy and resumed play on dramatically reduced budgets in 2010. The Predators returned to the field, along with a number of other established teams, including the Tampa Bay Storm. But it wasn’t the same. The “new” AFL suffered from one self-inflicted wound and public humiliation after another.
The Predators were not immune to the mis-steps either. Most notably, a 2014 move to the University of Central Florida’s CFE Arena following a lease dispute with the Orlando’s NBA arena, the Amway Center. Preds’ attendance plummeted from best in the league in 2013 (11,868 per game) to worst in 2014 (5,421 average).
The Predators returned to the Amway Center for their final two seasons in 2015 and 2016. But the tipping point had been reached. The AFL shrunk from 18 teams in 2011 to 14 in 2014 and down to just eight members for the Predators final season in 2016. The Predators joined the casualty list that October, disbanding after 25 seasons. The Storm followed a year later in 2017 and the Arena Football League closed its doors amidst a second bankruptcy filing following the 2019 season.
In 2019, a brand re-boot of the Orlando Predators began playing in the low-profile National Arena League. The latter day Predators continue to play at Amway Center as of this update in 2023.
Trivia
On June 13th, 1992 the Predators administered the only shutout in the 32-season history of the Arena Football League. Orlando demolished the expansion San Antonio Force 50-0 before 11,781 fans at the O-Rena, thanks in part to six missed field goals by San Antonio kicker Matt Frantz.
Orlando Predators Shop
Orlando Predators Video
The final season. The Preds host long-time rivals the Tampa Bay Storm at Amway Center
In Memoriam
Preds Assistant Coach (’98-’01) and Head Coach (’02-’03) Fran Papasedero died in a single-car accident on June 19, 2003 at the age of 34.
Head coach Perry Moss (Preds ’91-’97) passed away August 7th, 2014 at the age of 88.
Downloads
2013 Orlando Predators Media Guide
2014 Orlando Predators Media Guide
2016 Orlando Predators Media Guide
2016 Orlando Predators Postseason Media Guide
Links
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One Response
For any Jeopardy fans that might read this entry, the last owner of this team is NOT the same David Siegel that forgot to phrase a correct $800 Daily Double response in the form of a question in game one of the 1995 Jeopardy Tournament of Champions finals (that mistake ultimately cost him the tournament, because he lost to champion Ryan Holznagel by $1301, which is significant, because had Siegel the contestant not made that mistake, he would have gotten back the $800 that he lost, AND gotten $800 on top of that, which would have put him ahead of Holznagel and given him the tournament).